I just felt the microwave with my hand!

Sunday Night. I was preparing a cheese sandwich, when I was just about to turn the microwave off. OMG. I felt it!
I didn't toucht it, but I felt the microwave!

What the heck is going on? Well, a couple of months ago I got a small magnet implanted in my left hand's ring finger.
I've been wanting to write this blog post since I got the magnet implanted, but decided to wait until it heals completely, and today felt like the perfect time.

I moved to Berlin when I was still 18. Looking back, I think dying my hair was a way to show how much the city shaped who I am.
When I decided that I'd leave the city, I started to look for a more permanent way to express the same thing. Piercings are not my thing, and I'm too indecisive for a tatoo. One day I thought of my friend Rin, who is a cyborg and has NFC chips and magnets implanted. A couple of mails later, I was invited to an Implant Party.

Turns out in Berlin there's a CyborgsVerein that supports everything cyborg related, including magnetic implants. So I went to their party and after talking to some people that already had magnets implanted, I decided to get one myself. The whole process took just a couple of minutes (explanations included), and from a pain scale of 1 to 10, it was barely a 5.

So what is it really?

It's a small neodymium magnet that's on the left-side of the "middle-part" of my left-hand's ring-finger.
I don't know the exact measures, but I'd say it's about 2mm thick.

What can I do with it?

Besides fun party tricks, I can actually feel electromagnetic fields. I can, for example, tell if a power adaptor is working or not by just touching it.
The power adaptor generates electromagnetic fields that make the magnet inside my finger tingle.
I can also turn my iPad off without touching the sleep button.

I have to say that I had a bit of a rough start. It took my finger somewhere about 2 months to fully recover, and I could only move it minimally for a whole month (one-hand programming, yay!). Apparently I had bad luck and there were some small complications, but Hika, the amazing body-artist who did the implant, helped me a lot and now it's fully recovered!
It typically recovers faster.

The first months were a bit boring, because I couldn't really do any of the cool things, but once my finger got better the fun started. Showing the tricks to my friends was nice, but the cool part is really feeling the electromagnetic fields. It's almost like a sixth sense.

I didn't think having a magnet in my finger would be so much fun! I can't wait to get a new one. Next time I'd like an even bigger one.
The one I currently have can only lift clips and needles. I want one that can handle a small spoon.

The philosophical aspect

One of the most interesting things about this is that, as time goes by, the magnet will lose its strength. Just like memories.
My idea is to visit Berlin, at least every three years, and get a new magnet.

If you want to read more about implants and cyborgs, check out this links:

As I was writing this post, I discovered (by mistake) that I can also put my laptop to sleep: The sensor which detects when the screen is closed is located next to my MacBook's left speaker.
I'm surprised I didn't discover it before.

If you want continue the conversation you can always find me at @eljojo.